Add up what one piece really costs you, materials, your time and a share of the overheads, then add profit to get a wholesale price a shop can buy at and a retail price you can sell at.
Retail price
$39.60
Wholesale price × 2
| Per item | Amount | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Materials | $7.50 | 38% |
| Labour (25 min at $18.00/h) | $7.50 | 38% |
| Overhead share | $1.50 | 8% |
| Cost to make | $16.50 | 83% |
| Profit (20% of cost) | $3.30 | 17% |
| Wholesale price | $19.80 | 100% |
| Retail price (× 2) | $39.60 | – |
Selling direct at $39.60 leaves $23.10 over your cost per item. A shop buying at $19.80 and selling at $39.60 keeps a 50% margin.
For comparison, the double-it-twice rule (cost × 2 for wholesale, then × 2 for retail) gives $33.00 wholesale and $66.00 retail.
Educational estimates, not financial or tax advice. Your inputs stay in this browser tab.
Every handmade price starts from what one piece costs you to make. List the materials and packaging that go into it, then your making time at the hourly rate you want to earn, then a share of the monthly overheads you pay whatever you sell. Making a batch? Enter the materials and time for the whole batch and how many items it makes.
Cost = materials + labour + overhead share
Wholesale = cost × (1 + profit %)
Retail = wholesale × multiplier
Profit is what the business keeps on top of your wages: money for new tools, slow months and growth. The retail multiplier is usually 2, known as keystone pricing: a shop that buys at your wholesale price sells at about double. Charge that same retail price when you sell direct, so you never undercut the shops that stock you.
A widely quoted shortcut, from Starting an Etsy Business For Dummies, is wholesale = (materials + labour + overhead) × 2 and retail = wholesale × 2, plus shipping. It builds in a 100% markup on cost; the line under the result shows what it gives for your numbers.
Four more tools for setting prices that pay.
Turn a markup into a margin and back from your cost, with a table of common values.
Keystone and other multipliers, tidy price endings and what consignment really pays you.
How many sales cover your fixed costs, with a chart of revenue against costs.
The rate that pays your target income once holidays and admin time are counted.
Two free services for the online side of running a small making business.
Craft fairs, pattern shops, supplier catalogues and wholesale platforms all want an email address before you can see a price list or download a form. CleanTempMail gives you a free temporary inbox straight away, with no sign-up, a random or custom address on hundreds of domains, and messages deleted automatically after 3 days.
Your real shop inbox stays free for customers.
Get a temporary inboxFound cheap jars, beads or yarn on a supplier site you have never heard of? WebTraceCheck's free DNS and domain lookup shows the details behind the domain before you pay, and its disposable cloud browser opens unfamiliar links on an isolated desktop that is deleted after each session.
Nothing to install, with free time every day.
Try WebTraceCheckFor making time, yes. Photos, listings and admin are real work too: fold them into your hourly rate (the hourly rate calculator does this) or count them as an overhead. A price that leaves labour out only looks competitive because you work for free.
Because it has to pay a shop as well as you. If buyers will not pay it, look first at materials and minutes per piece, then at the multiplier. Cutting only your own direct price undercuts every shop that stocks you.
Charge shipping separately or build it into the price, but count it somewhere. Percentage fees from a marketplace or card processor come out of each sale, so add them to your overheads or raise the profit percentage to cover them.